Somewhere between fame and the gutter live the artists not worthy of the establishment’s attention. You will not find them in the pages of the New Yorker or the Huffington Post. Their art is not bought and sold like expensive Japanese steak massaged to make you forget that art should be about politics, revolution, defiance…. and let’s not forget poetics.

This is a rare film that dares to present an artist outside the box of the usual suspects: exotic folk artists, dying of AIDS artists, hoop dream artists, vogue artists ... a litany of what is or is not deemed a success by the 1% who control the mass media, the museums and auction houses. Monsieur Contraste walks a tightrope stretched between the struggle to retain his dignity and creative independence, and the simple ordinary need to feed his family.

I made Monsieur Contraste because I was interested in bringing to the foreground a man who lives a seemingly normal life but creates extraordinary art. He is not afraid to stand in front of the proverbial tank of cultural trends that corrupt art pretty much the same way Wall Street corrupts the principles of free market.

We need look no further to see our everyday struggles reflected back to us in the shape of the life of an artist who is not afraid to speak truth to power.